In a remarkably candid interview on Lebanese TV, the head of foreign relations at Hamas's Information Ministry in Gaza explained how harassment, interrogations and deportations were used to ensure that journalists reporting from Gaza during Operation Protective Edge stuck to Hamas's official line and did not report "the Israeli narrative".

Speaking to Mayadeen TV, Isra al-Mudallal decried how some foreign reporters had reported on Hamas rocket fire against Israeli civilians, and claimed that their interest was due to the fact that "the journalists who entered Gaza were fixated on the notion of peace, and on the Israeli narrative."

The interview was translated by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Foreign journalists have regularly complained of being harassed by Hamas authorities in Gaza, directly leading to biased coverage in favor of Islamist terrorists and against Israel.

Allegations of intimidation, beatings, imprisonment and deportations of journalists who dared to question Hamas's official line culminated in a strong protest by the Foreign Press Association earlier this week.